Comparative Frameworks for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Psychedelics

ABSTRACT: It has in recent years become unremarkable to say that a human rights-based approach to drug policy should be taken. However, despite some pioneering work on the topic, it remains unclear what this should mean in practice. In this article, I focus on the particular case of one class of internationally controlled substances, psychedelics, and examine potential groundings (and tensions) within international human rights law for their regulation and use. I outline four broad frameworks of thinking and discourse about human rights and controlled substances such as psychedelics: (1) the thin human rights framework, (2) the thick human rights framework, (3) the social justice framework, and (4) the public health framework. Each framework comes with its own assumptions, value hierarchies, and implications for what a rights-based approach to psychedelics would ultimately mean. I argue that bringing these frameworks to the surface with an eye toward an examination of the tradeoffs between them will prove useful as cities, states, and nations consider whether and how to roll back the prohibition of psychedelics.